Discussion
Announced in India Yesterday:
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/mg-lau...
Already quite a few test videos on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCxBumC-Z2M&t=...
Not sure if it would pass EU safety standards, but i'd imagine MG/SAIC have their eyes set on the global market.
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/mg-lau...
Already quite a few test videos on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCxBumC-Z2M&t=...
Not sure if it would pass EU safety standards, but i'd imagine MG/SAIC have their eyes set on the global market.
Surely to get most people or families to own electric cars, (at least one) they have to start to develop and build small, simple no frills cars, simple to maintain, do 60mph or so, light, cheap tyres, not massive range and not 500hp.
Such cars will be fine for local commuting and do 90% of what EVs and could be 10k not 40k!
Such cars will be fine for local commuting and do 90% of what EVs and could be 10k not 40k!
poo at Paul's said:
Surely to get most people or families to own electric cars, (at least one) they have to start to develop and build small, simple no frills cars, simple to maintain, do 60mph or so, light, cheap tyres, not massive range and not 500hp.
For some markets like India, certainly, but the demand for cheap no-frills cars in the UK seems relatively small. The average list price of new cars registered in the UK is about £40k. Edited by kambites on Tuesday 2nd May 19:57
poo at Paul's said:
Surely to get most people or families to own electric cars, (at least one) they have to start to develop and build small, simple no frills cars, simple to maintain, do 60mph or so, light, cheap tyres, not massive range and not 500hp.
Such cars will be fine for local commuting and do 90% of what EVs and could be 10k not 40k!
From a CO2 point of view, what is actually needed is not 'more EVs' , it's 'Less IC'.Such cars will be fine for local commuting and do 90% of what EVs and could be 10k not 40k!
Cheap sensible EVs which replace bicycles and encourage commuting may not be entirely a good thing.
EVs are only one cog in the machine, we need a bigger picture of how towns/cities/societies should be working.
Having a vehicle for personal mobility is a great boost to quality of life and all that.
Needing a vehicle and having to commute for hours is not!
Cheap EVs may enable countries like India to repeat the mistakes the developed world has made?
kambites said:
For some markets like India, certainly, but the demand for cheap no-frills cars in the UK seems relatively small. The average list price of new cars registered in the UK is about £40k.
In the UK, there could be a market for:Edited by kambites on Tuesday 2nd May 19:57
a) inexpensive 'second cars'.
b) cheap new cars which are an alternative to buying a 6 year old car with no warranty.
The list price is a work of fiction, most/many people budget what they are prepared to pay over a year or something.
People even if they buy a car instead of lease/PCP/monthly whatever, have some kind of 'budget per year'.
I'll buy a banger hoping to have maybe £1k or £1500 a year depreciation. Most people who 'buy' a car have some expectation of it retaining value.
I suspect there is a big pool of people in the UK who would cheerfully buy a new no-frills car instead of a pretentious banger.
People who been bitten by fairly big bills on cheap cars for a start.
There is a contingent of people who can weigh off fuel savings against the monthly payment on a cheap EV.
There is a shortage of 'used' EVs because not enough new ones were sold 5 or so years ago.
That's a void in the market which could be filled by cheaper new EVs
The catch is, they have to be good. Not like buying a Yugo, which went from 'Superficially Cheap' to 'fundamentally worthless' before an Alfasud can even think about rusting.
OutInTheShed said:
There is a shortage of 'used' EVs because not enough new ones were sold 5 or so years ago.
That's a void in the market which could be filled by cheaper new EVs
So if this car went on sale for, say, £13k (there's no way it's going to be cheaper than that) and had no glaring manufacturing or engineering flaws, would you buy one? I certainly wouldn't and I doubt anyone else would either! That's a void in the market which could be filled by cheaper new EVs
kambites said:
So if this car went on sale for, say, £13k (there's no way it's going to be cheaper than that) and had no glaring manufacturing or engineering flaws, would you buy one? I certainly wouldn't and I doubt anyone else would either!
£13k....Maybe that's on lease or whatever at about £175 a month?
Imagine you have a commute which is awkward on public transport and takes you into a ULEZ?
It would save you maybe £75 a month in fuel?
It starts to look like a sensible option, compared to getting a loan for a used car which will depreciate at more than £100 a month and has the risk of needing significant repairs. I reckon a good marketing and sales operation could shift them at an alarming rate.
kambites said:
I wonder if it will come to Europe; it looks like it'd make a pretty good city runabout.
From the Autocar article -The Comet isn't expected to go on sale in the UK, given its limited suite of safety equipment – especially apparent when compared with the European Union’s GSR2 safety regulations.
Fermit said:
kambites said:
I wonder if it will come to Europe; it looks like it'd make a pretty good city runabout.
From the Autocar article -The Comet isn't expected to go on sale in the UK, given its limited suite of safety equipment – especially apparent when compared with the European Union’s GSR2 safety regulations.
kambites said:
So again, would you buy one? Or if not do you personally know anyone who you think would buy one? Because I wouldn't and as far as I know I don't.
I'm sure some would, but I think the numbers would be tiny.
Personally I am unlikely to buy one, but then I'm even more unlikely to buy virtually any other new vehicle either.I'm sure some would, but I think the numbers would be tiny.
I suspect a few couples I know would consider one as a second car.
The kinds of people who are keeping the market for used leaves and i3s buoyant.
A lot of people I know are quite frustrated with the used car market at the moment.
I reckon there's a market of people who are a bit fed up with used cars and something cheap and new would be an easy sell.
e.g. pensioners who don't want to be without a car but can't justify £20k+ for most new cars.
OutInTheShed said:
A lot of people I know are quite frustrated with the used car market at the moment.
This is perhaps the key question - is the current used car market stagnation a short-term blip caused by there being too few new cars due to the well documented supply chain issues, or is it part of a longer-term trend towards people having less disposable income and hence fewer people leasing or whatever new cars every few years. From what I've seen the UK market for years has been almost unique in so many people treating cars as leased goods (as opposed to using debt to finance the purchase of their cars, which is a very different thing). With inflation running rampant and interest rates edging upwards, I wonder if the people who have been chain-leasing mass-market vehicles will continue to do so because if they stop, it's going to make the used market a very different place.
kambites said:
OutInTheShed said:
A lot of people I know are quite frustrated with the used car market at the moment.
This is perhaps the key question - is the current used car market stagnation a short-term blip caused by there being too few new cars due to the well documented supply chain issues, or is it part of a longer-term trend towards people having less disposable income and hence fewer people leasing or whatever new cars every few years. From what I've seen the UK market for years has been almost unique in so many people treating cars as leased goods (as opposed to using debt to finance the purchase of their cars, which is a very different thing). With inflation running rampant and interest rates edging upwards, I wonder if the people who have been chain-leasing mass-market vehicles will continue to do so because if they stop, it's going to make the used market a very different place.
A lot of cars of the last 10 to 15 years are too full of electronics and complex transmissions and emissions control stuff.
Great while they are new or in warranty, but a lot of potential for big bills in later life.
Car makers have moved a long way towards the 'circular economy' model of selling a car which performs well for ten years or so and is then recycled.
There's also uncertainty in the future of IC cars, who knows what ULEZs and stricter MOTs we might have in five years' time?
The potential for big bills and/or faster depreciation than we are used to tips the scales against paying big money for a used car.
We may get to the point where leasing a cheap EV is actually the cheapest way to run a car.
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